Chase Travaille

Past Long-Term Resident Artist
Hometown: Sherwood, Arkansas

Chase Travaille views his work as performance artifacts; objects that are extensions of the body and that serve as evidence of a muddy history. As a maker, it allows him to recognize, and acknowledge an action, or an emotion that is felt, and then transmute that into something that can be placed physically into space and critically accessed. Being a product of the culture of honor, he creates sculptures that are indicative of Southern Gothic literature. Dark humor, transgressive thoughts and desires, are articulated in works that invite a dialogue concerning sexuality, social class, and material impossibility. Currently, he is focused on objects that are emblematic of the idyllic countryside inspired by personal events and the representation of the American South within cinema and art history.

Chase received his MFA from Alfred University in 2019 and was awarded the Outstanding Student Achievement in Sculpture Award from the International Sculpture Center the same year. He has attended residencies internationally and was a long-term resident from 2019-2021 at the Archie Bray Foundation.